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George Rogers wins MLA battle

George Rogers has narrowly survived a challenge to his nomination as candidate for the Conservative party, and with it, his post as MLA for Leduc-Beaumont-Devon.

Rogers beat out Dominic Mishio, City of Leduc alderman, by 200 ballots in a vote held at the Nisku Inn the night of Saturday April 9. The vote, for P.C. party members only, was announced shortly after the close of the poll. After announcing Rogers as the winner, a brief moment of confusion followed over whether the official count would be announced.

Prompt protestations from several party members resulted in the immediate release of the vote: 826 for Rogers to Mishio's 625. Rogers was congratulated by his supporters, including wife Julia Carter, and his children.

In remarks following the announcement, Rogers thanked his supporters, and spoke well of challenger Mishio.

"When he was in grade 12 he came to the legislature and shadowed me for a day and I was very impressed, I thought the future of the party looks great. But I didn't realize he was sizing up my office," joked Rogers.

In an interview afterwards, Roger further praised Mishio, thanking him for bringing energy to the party, and accepted a new mandate from his party.

"Acclamations are nice, but this is a way of energizing the party and party members, I think it's going to give us momentum as we go through the next phases of leadership," he said. "This is an affirmation of the work I've been doing. It's nice to get the approval of the constituency."

For his part, Mishio wished Rogers the best of luck, and committed to continue working towards what he said were needed reforms within the party.

"There are issues around representation in the region, making sure that the party involves people in making their policy choices and laws," said Mishio, who said he hopes to create a stronger voice for younger party members. "We need to make sure that we're planning well for the future and not excluding a very important generation."